Ravenshead
was co-commissioned and produced by Musical Traditions, Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, and The Pennsylvania State Universitys
Center for the Performing Arts, with generous support from
the National Endowment for the Arts, Opera America/Lila Wallace-Readers
Digest Opera for a New America Project, The Rockefeller Foundation
Multi-Arts Production Fund, and the California Arts Council.

Tony
Taccone is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and
Choreographers

Ravensheadis a tour-de-force, combining a brilliant,
multi-faceted score with the dazzling physicality and mordant
wit of Rinde Eckert in performance. A meditation on the meaning
of heroism versus hubris, of competence versus charisma, this
material might be dull and pedantic in other hands, but brilliant
composer Steve Mackey, acclaimed writer/performer Rinde Eckert
and the phenomenal Paul Dresher Ensemble Electro-Acoustic Band
pull off what the New York press called "... equal parts MTV
video and Metropolitan Opera. The finale was a sheer blowout
of energy."

Ravenshead
is based on the story of Donald Crowhurst, as reconstructed
by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall in their book The Strange
Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst.

Crowhurst was a British
businessman who attempted to sail solo in a race around the
world from the fall of 1968 to the summer of 1969. His motives
for this enterprise were complex, ranging from practical business
concerns (he had designed and manufactured a navigational
device, sales of which were in sore need of such publicity)
to psychological imperatives (a need to prove himself - Crowhurst
was an intelligent and ambitious man of modest birth in a
class conscious society).

Crowhurst was unprepared
for his trip.

He came face to face
with his limitations in the South Atlantic. His boat was taking
on water, his self steering gear was falling apart, and he
was missing vital equipment (the result of slip-shod inventory
at the outset). Disappointed in himself and embarrassed by
his slow progress, he began to exaggerate his speed in his
occasional radio reports, reporting positions far in advance
of where he actually was. Crowhurst was probably assuming
he would make up the difference over the course of the trip.
Soon, however, he realized he wasn't going to make it.

At this critical juncture
Crowhurst made a momentous decision. In short, he decided
to fake it. He reasoned that by appearing to finish the race
but lose it, he might save face while avoiding the magnified
attention that would surely result from winning. As an also
ran, a dignified failure, he would be afforded enough publicity
to benefit his business (and thereby his family and his standing
within the community) while remaining unimportant enough to
avoid scrutiny and detection, his ships log only glanced at,
his accounts taken at face value.

Still, the construction
of a log book that would pass even the most cursory examination
was an involved undertaking. Crowhurst had to spend long hours
monitoring weather reports from around the globe, figuring
winds and currents, time, speed and positions, inventing plausible
anecdotes for the margins, etc.

In the end, all his effort
was undone when his only remaining competition, having heard
that Crowhurst was somewhere behind him coming home, pushed
his boat too hard in an attempt to ensure a first place finish,
and foundered, leaving Crowhurst in sole possession of the
lead.

Crowhurst, having already
committed himself to the lie by means of fraudulent radio
reports of his position, knew he was facing a disastrous unmasking
and total ruin. He had been out at sea by himself with limited
radio contact (partially by design) for well over 200 days.

His log entries from
these last days are a mess of philosophic and religious speculation:

"I had a complete
set of answers to the most difficult problems now facing
mankind. I had arrived in the cosmos while contemplating
the navel of the ape..."

"Now at last man has
everything he needs to think like a cosmic being.

At the moment it must
be true that I am the only man on earth who realizes what
this means. It means I can make myself a cosmic being..."

"My folly gone forward
in imagination

Wrong decision not
perfect Time

no longer computed
Had disorganizes Clocks"

Then, the last written
words of Donald Crowhurst:

"It has been a good
game that must be ended at the I will play this game when
I choose I will resign the game 11 20 40 There is no
reason for harmful"

It is supposed that he
abandoned ship on the 243rd day of his strange voyage, jumping
overboard while the ship sailed on. He left his beloved wife
and four children.

"This fascinating
story resonates with elemental power.... Eckert is an unbelievably
gifted performer.... a tour-de-force... one of the seasons
finest."
Brad Rosenstein, The San Francisco
Bay Guardian

"...an incredible
look at a brilliant mans inability to understand his
limitations... The wild music of the six-piece Paul Dresher
Ensemble... weaves a wily sonic tapestry...."
Mark De La Vina, San Jose Mercury News

"... an extraordinary
portrait of a flawed heroic journey... wickedly insightful...Ravenshead
had its New York audience hanging on the edge of their seats.
The intellectual audacity of this new work signals a 21st
Century full of possibility for new music theatre."
 Kathleen Hulser, American Theatre